Colorado shooting: Gunman suspect James Holmes had been seeing psychiatrist

James Holmes, who will on Monday be charged with the Batman cinema massacre in
Aurora, Colorado, had been seeing a psychiatrist, raising questions about
whether warning signs were missed.

James Holmes appears in court at the Arapahoe County Justice Centre in Centennial, Colorado. Holmes, 24, is accused of shooting dead 12 people and wounding 58 others at a cinema in Aurora, as moviegoers packed the midnight screening of the latest Batman film, "The Dark Knight Rises".Photo: RJ SANGOSTI/AFP/GettyImages

James Holmes, the suspected gunman in the Batman cinema massacre, had been seeing a University of Colorado psychiatrist who specialises in schizophrenia, according to new court records.

It is the first indication that the university may have had warning signs about his mental health before the rampage during a midnight screening of the new Batman film that left 12 dead and 58 injured.

Holmes, 24, had been taking a doctorate in neuroscience at the university medical school, but told officials that he was dropping out early last month.

He had been visiting Lynne Fenton, the medical director of student mental health services. He also sent her a notebook in which he had reportedly drawn images depicting a shooting spree, but package was found unopened in the post room.

He is due to be charged this coming Monday. He has also claimed to other inmates at the detention centre that he cannot remember what happened and does not know why he is in prison.

There have been persistent questions whether the court arraignment, the notebook, the prison claims and now the revelations about the psychiatry sessions are part of an elaborate plan to prepare the ground for an insanity defence.

Police have said that he planned the attack meticulously, ordering ammunition and paramilitary supplies over the internet and buying four weapons legally at gun-stores in the Denver area over two months.

He also rigged his apartment with potentially lethal explosive devices that investigators believe were intended to kill police officers when they arrived to search his home.

In another possible indication that he had been carefully planning the murderous rampage, he set up an entry on a sex-dating website early this month with the message: “Will you visit me in prison?”

Nonetheless, the revelation that he visited a psychiatrist with a specialism in schizophrenia raises questions about whether the University of Colorado may have missed signs of trouble.

The university established a team designed to identify students who might be suicidal or represent a danger to others in the wake of the 2007 massacre that claimed 33 lives at Virginia Tech.

It is not known at this stage whether Holmes had come to the attention of that team. Don Elliman, the university chancellor, said that he believes “we did everything we should have done in this case”.